Collapsible shipping-case.



e, o; HELVIG s A. W. EWNG.

COLLAPSIBLE SHIPPING CASE.

APPLIUATIOI FILED JULY Patented Jam. 5, w09.

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908,862. l Pand .um 5, 1909.

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l the case 'when empty may UNTED STATES PATENT oFFI GILBERT O. BELVIG AND ARTHUR W. EWING, 0F DAWSON, MINNESQTA.

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` Bpecicatin of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. i, 1909.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, GILBERT O. HELvIo' and ARTHUR W. EWING, both citizens of' the United States, and residents of Dawson, in the county of Lac qui Parle and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and Improved Collapsible Shipping-Case, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in shipping cases, and more particularly to an improved construction whereby be folded to occupy the minimum amount of space, and rigidly locked in position so that the arts going to make up the case may be held rigid in respect to each other when the case is in its open or extended position.

The invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts, all of which will be fully set forth hereinafter and partlcularly pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to b'e'had to the accompany-l ingdrawings, forming a part of this specifica tion, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures, and in which- Figure 1 1s a perspective view of a case constructed in accordance with our invention; Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the case; Fig. 3 is a pers ective view of the case in its collapsed or ockedLdown position; F ig. 4 is a transverse section through the folded case taken at the line 4-4 of Fig. 3 and with the partition swung toward the lefthand end fromthe position indicated in Fig. and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of ig; 2. v

Our' improved knock-down case may be constructed of any material and of any suitable size or form, but, as illustrated, 1s constructed of sheet metal and especially adapted for use as an egg-shipping case. In the construction illustrated, t e caseis formed of a bottom 10, front andrear walls 11 and 11, oppositely-dis osed end Walls 13, a cover 14, and a vertice partition 15. All of these arts are connected together by suitable inges and are so constructed that'thev mayv be rigidly-locked in the open or the collapsed osition.4 Thetwo end Walls 13 are hinged to the bottom and are unattached to the sides or top. The ends are ada ted to fold inward v into engagement with the ottoni of the case,

but are prevented from folding inward when the case is in its extended position, by the engagement of the cover 14 with the inner surface of the ends 'at their upper edges. The ends are held from swinging outward beyond a position at right angles to the bottom, by bars pivotally connected to the side mem bers, as will be hereinafter described.

two oppositely-dis osed sides 11-11 am also hinged to the ttom but are epnnected together so as to remain tions parallel to each other.

of the rear side 11 by the hine rod, wlnch` is located at the intersection o the rear side and the cover, and is extended to form stays 16 lying in engeinent with the outer surface of the en adjacent their upper edge, and also a stay 1'7 extending along the front side of the case and connected to the latter at its upper/edge by the rollin over of the metal goirgfto make up sai front side. The Stags being integral with the hinge rod carried y the rear side of the case, and being integral with the stay -17 extending across the front of the case serveto maintain the two sides in parallelism at all times. The sides are also held in parallelism by n nected to or integraljwith the front and the real-bars 20 and 21. Thebars 22 bein spaced from the ends of the case form han es, and to facilitate the use thereof said bars maybe l provided With encirclinlcoils of Wire 23, the

and the front stay to said hinge rod and stay, t ere is rovided a cross bar 24 intermediate the en s of the case and substantiallyparallel to the cross stays l the artition 15, and the partition serves to hol the front and rear sides in. position at right angles to the bottom, save when the t partition `is moved upon the cross a pivot and out of engagement 17, or r'fridly connected with said plane of the- The cover 14 is hinged to the upper edge band encircling the case intermediate the top and bottom thereof and pivotally con-v i but spaced from the ends 13 andrigidly con operation of which be clearly understood. y

Integral with the hinge rod of the, cover 16. This cross bar serves to support bar 24 as' .any suitable form of front and rear sides. The lower edge of the 1 partitionis provided with means for locking 1t 1n position and preventing the partition from swinging upon its pivotal support, said means preferably comprising a loop of wire 25 having its end ortions 26 loiwitudinally movable within a head 27 at the lower edge of the partition. The end portions 26 constitute oclring pins which engage in recesses of the case, as 1s clearl indicated in Fig. 5, and the loop 25 constitutes not only laterally-extending ortions from said locking ins, whereby t e pins may be withdrawn omA the recesses, but also serves as a spring for holding the pins in their operative position. The loop 1s disposed intermediate the two pins, and the bead 27 is cut away at its center portion to provide an o ening 27, through which the loop exten s from the lns. p The cover 14, as reviously described, is hinged to the rear si e 11EL at the upper edge thereof and when closed it lies between t ie upper edges of the ends to revent the latter om noving inward. T 1e cover is prevented from swinging into the case, by its engagement with the upper'ed e of the partitlon and the cross bar 24. T 1e front edge of the cover is rovided with a bead 28 for the reception of ongitudinally-movable locking pins29. The two pins are preferably formed of a single iece of wire, and each has a laterali -exten ing portion constituting one'side ,05a spring loop 30 normally lying in engagement with the upper surface of the cover, By pressing the 4loop together adjacent its base, the two pinsare drawn 1n Ward, While upon releasing the loop the pins g are forced outward beyond the ends of the i cover. The ends of the case adjacent their l npper front corners, are provided with openfor the rece tion o these lockin ins, lalids the cover is thus securely heldgiii its closed osition as shown in Fig. 1.

For ocking the case, portions of the front side adjacent the stay 17, and portions of the cover adjacent the locking pins 29 at the front edge may be cut away to form recesses 31 and 32, respectively, for the reception of adlock or other locking means. The wal s of the case may be reinforced by stamping in the metal beads or ooves, which tend to prevent the metal gom bending save in onedirection, as 1s well known 1n the4 art. As illustrated, the top of the case is provided with two` upwardly-stamped transverse beads 3.3 and the bottom of the case is provided Withtwo downwardly-stamped lon 'tudmally-extending. beads- 34. The lower eads also serve to support the bottom of the case out of engagement with the floor, and the upper beads also serveto space the cases apart should the be piled in stacks.

Iyor holding the locking pms 29 1n their innermost `position and out of eiwagen'lent with the ends of the case, to facilitate the opening and closing of thc top, we preferably provide` a retaining plate Bdsoldored or se cured in any suitable manner to the cover at its front edge and having'a slot 3G extending into it from `the rear side. The height ol the s ace beneath the plate is substantially equa to the thickness of the material forming the lpins and the loop 3U, so that the plate normal holds, the loop in engagement with the cover. U n compressing the loop at its base. the si e of the l op are brought beneath the slot int e platgand the loo may then ble` raised to a\vertical position.A Vhen so raised the sides of the slot prevent the expansion of the loop and thus retainthe pins.

For locking the case inits folded position, we employ 'thes me locking pins as are employed for hold ng the cover in its closed position, namelygli the longitudinally movable pins 29. The" rear side 11 of the cov-cr. adjacent the bottom thereof, is provided with two forwardly-extending flanges or projections 35, engaging with the outer surfaces of the ends of the case when the latter is in its openposition. To collapse the case, the cover 14 is lirst opened to a vertical position, the locking pins 26 at the lower e 0e of the partition 15 are withdrawn, and the partition is swung forward out of engagement with the front and rear side walls. The ends are then swung inward into engagement with the bottom, and the front side of the case is pushed rearwardly, so that it folds down upon the two inwardly-folded ends. The cross bar 24 thus comes to a position substantially parallel with the rear side 11 and the partltionis folded into engagement with said rear wall. The cover 14 is then forward and over the partition and rear wa to bring the front edge of the cover adjacent the lower rear side of the bottom. The locking pins 29 are then moved outward into engagement with the perforations in the lugs or projections 35, and all parts of the case will e rigidly held against movement of any sort whatever.

Various changes may bemade in the construction and operation of-.the device Within the scope of the appended claims, without de arting from the spirit of our invention.

Iaving thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. -A collapsible case having a bottom, sides hinged to the bottom means connecting one o the sides to the other and'pivotally secured to both for holding said sides inparallelism, ends movable inward betweensaid sides, and a hinged cover serving inV its closed osition to prevent said inward movement o the ends.

2. A collapsible case having a top, a bottom, sides and ends. thel sides being hinged to the bottom,land means connecting one of the sides to the other and pivotally secured to both intermediate their tops, said means necting the sides to retain them in parallel` ism and extending across the ends and spaced therefrom, sald connecting means having f coil wires inclosing the same to serve as handles.

4. .A collapsible case having a top, a bottom, sides and ends, the sides and ends being hinged to the bottom and the top being hinged to the upper ed e of the rear side, the end walls being movab e inward into engagement with` the bottom and the sides being held in parallelism, the ends being provided with perforations adjacent their upper front corners-and the rear side being provided with perforated lugs adjacent'its lower corners and extending forwardly, and the to` being provided With outwardly-movable lbcking pins adapted. for insertion in the first-mentioned perforations when the case is in its working position and ada ted forinsertion in the perforations of the ugs when the case is in its collapsed osition.

5. A co apsible case having a cover, a bottoni, sides and ends, the cover being hinged to theupper edge of one side, and the ends being provided with perorations adjacent their upper front corners and two longitudinallyqnovable spring-pressed locking pins carried by said cover adjacent its front edge and adapted for insertion Within said perforations, both of said lookin pins being formed of a single piece of meta and having a spring loop intermediate its ends, whereby the lookin pins may be withdrawn.

6. A co apsible case having a cover, a bot tom, sides and ends,'the cover being hinged to the upper edge of one side, and the ends being provided with perforations adjacent their u per front corners two longitudinallymovab e locking pins carried by said cover adjacent its front edge and adapted for insertion within said perforations, each of said locking pins having a laterally extending portion intermediate the ends of the cover, whereby the locking pins may be withdrawn, and a plate having a slot therein for the reception of said laterally-extending portions to retain the pins in their withdrawn position.

7. A collapsible case having a bottom, sides hinged thereto, means connectin said sides to hold them in parallelism, hinge ends movable inward to permit the collapsing4 of the case, a cross bar connect' said sides at their upper edges intermediate t e ends thereof, a partition arallel to the ends of the case and suspende from said cross bar, and spring-pressed outwardly-movable locking pms carried by said partition at its lower edge, said partition and ends when in o erative position serving to prevent the eo lapsing of the case.

8. A collapsible ease having a top, a bottom, sides' and ends, the top being hinged to the rear side at its u per edge, stays ivotally connected to the iront and rear si es adjacent their upper edges and holding said sides in parallelism, a cross bar connecting said sides at their upper edges intermediate the ends thereof, a partition parallel to the ends of the case and suspended from said cross bar, and' outwardly-extending springressed ins carried by said partition at the lbwer e ge thereof and adapted for engagement with the sides adjacent their lower. ed es for holding said partition in position. n testimony whereof we have signed our names to this speciiication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. GILBERT O. HELVIG. ARTHUR W. EWING. Witnesses:

EDWARD BERGENDALE, P. A. HALvoRsoN. 

